Demons

What do you get when you throw in Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, and demons? An hour and a half gore fest of blood, guts, demons, and some stupid humans. Yes, a film I had a lot of fun with.

<img src="demons.jpg" alt="Demons.">

Photo Credit: DACFILM Rome

Released: May 30, 1986

Runtime: 88 mins

Director: Lamberto Bava

Writer: Dardano Sacchetti, Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava

Actors: Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey, Karl Zinny

PLOT

They will make cemeteries their cathedrals and the cities will be your tombs.-The movie within the movie.

A group of random people are invited to a secret movie screening, only to find themselves trapped inside with a spreading infection of demons.

MY THOUGHTS

To say there is a high body count is an understatement. You not only get the initial death but then you get the reborn demon death. So there is a lot of blood and gore. You get eye gouging, vomiting, slicing, dicing, and a lot of teeth tearing. We even get helicopter blade slicing. I would say my favorite is when one of the women turns into a demon and a demon bursts through her back. Well done scene.

The acting is decent I guess. It’s an 80’s horror movie and not the greatest acting. I think the dubbing (is it dubbed or not?) is a little distracting. It feels like it’s all dubbed, even the actors who are speaking English seem dubbed. But dubbing is a pet peeve of mine. Just a minor irritation in Demons. 

I have to say one of my favorite characters is Tony the Pimp. He seems like he has a good head on his shoulders and knows what needs to be done. Too bad other people's stupidity gets him killed.

Demons starts with a nervous looking woman, Cheryl, getting free tickets to the Metropol for an unknown movie. She gets her friend Kathy to skip class and go to the Metropol.

In the lobby there is a display with a motorcycle and a dummy holding a sword and this really cool looking demon mask. Of course a woman grabs the mask playfully and puts it on. Tony yells at her and when she takes off the mask it cuts her cheek.

The movie starts and four people are checking out this decrepit building at night. They find a book belonging to Nostradamus and a mask that looks just like the one in the lobby. One of the guys puts on the mask, despite the warning the book says not too, cutting himself as well. The guy then turns into a demon, killing his friends.

Back to the woman who scratched her face. She is in the bathroom tending to the cut, when the cut bubbles up and pops. She turns into a red eyed, bloodthirsty demon just like the guy in the movie. 

The demon starts attacking other people and they eventually turn into demons as well. Panic ensues, causing people to scream and eventually getting killed. They soon realize they are trapped in the building. A small group of people barricade themselves on the balcony of the main theater room. 

One by one everyone dies and changes into demons. We’re down to Cheryl and George who then goes on a killing spree using the motorcycle and sword. Eventually they both escape the theater only to find out that somehow the demons have spread outside of the theater. They are rescued by a man and his kids. The ending is kind of sad and hopeless.

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Overall Demons is a decent and fun movie. With plenty of gore to satisfy anyone. On a side note, I would love to get a replica of the demon mask. Minus the demonic aspect of course. LOL. This movie is a must for any Argento, Bava, or basically anyone who likes the gore. There are two sequels Demons 2 and The Church.

And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:

  • Lamberto Bava cites this as his personal favorite of the films he has directed.

  • The building used for the exteriors of the Metropol theater still stands in Berlin. It's a club called Goya that's been host to several horror conventions thanks to its appearance in this film.

  • The name of the cinema (Metropol) can be seen as a building in the first Silent Hill video game.

  • Was supposed to be a trilogy by Dardano Sacchetti, but the third movie The Church was totally rewritten with a new director Michele Soavi.

  • The idea to have the demon's eyes glow in the film came to Bava on set, who said when filming a scene where the demons approach the camera involved the actors wearing refractive paper which caused the effect.


Check out my other reviews here: Forever Final Girl

Let’s get into the rankings:

Kills/Blood/Gore: 5/5

Sex/Nudity: 1.5/5

Scare factor: 4/5

Enjoyment factor: 5/5

My Rank: 4/5

IMDB: 6.6/10

Rotten Tomatoes: critics:  6.4/10  audience:  6.5/10

Letterboxd: 3.6/5